Texture induced superhydrophilic ceramic surfaces with hybrid structures

There are two primary methods for creating superhydrophilic surfaces: applying photochemically active chemicals as coatings or creating a textured surface. Texture-induced superhydrophilic surfaces have a further advantage of being stable and without requiring radiation. The creation of texture on the surface mostly depends on the chemical composition and firing conditions. Therefore, this study aims to assess the influence of alterations in glaze composition and firing cycle on crystal phase development, microstructure, contact angle, surface roughness, and specific surface energy in nano ZnO/ZnO-Cu included glazes. In this sense, glaze formulations comprising 7.8% nano zinc oxide / 7.8% nano zinc oxide, and 0.780% nano copper, with industrial glaze, were developed. Glazed samples were sintered at 1210 °C and underwent heat treatment at 965 °C for periods of 8 and 32 h. The surfaces of the samples were examined utilizing scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, surface profilometry, and wetting angle goniometry. As a result, superhydrophilic surfaces was obtained with the formation of multi-layer structures consisting of micro-sized willemite islands at the bottom and on top of well crystalized smaller (around 1 micron in size) willemite grains and at the top nano spherical shape plagioclase granular structures. After 8 h of heat treatment, the surface achieves its maximum superhydrophilic state with a contact angle of 5◦. The superhydrophilicity was caused by the nano crystalline plagioclase granules’ surface architecture, not its chemical composition.